


Purple Bandages

by that_one_kid



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Blood drives are good man, Clint's a nerd, F/M, Natasha doesn't always get it right, short shortfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-31
Updated: 2016-01-31
Packaged: 2018-05-17 11:36:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 218
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5867773
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/that_one_kid/pseuds/that_one_kid
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>AU explanation of why every eight weeks, a certain Agent Romanov donates blood</p>
            </blockquote>





	Purple Bandages

**Author's Note:**

> Sort of visual poetry?

He bleeds out in her arms, in the cold, despite all her best intentions. 

She kept pressure on, she held him and spoke softly to him and yelled at him.  
She fought all of death she could reach but still he slipped away, leaving her cold, alone, and dying in the Russian night.  
SHIELD only got there in time to save her.

The hospital is always crowded, always smells of cleaner and fear and blood.  
She sits quietly in line, goes where they tell her too, her back straight and her hands in her lap.  
Sits, unflinching, as they slide the needle in.  
Still, she glances around too often, checking the exits, looking for a dreaded face among the white-clad doctors.  
Once, she heard Russian being spoken behind her and she had to fight to keep breathing, forcing air through her frozen lungs. 

They thank her, remind her a donation of blood will save lives.  
There is no need to remind her, and they know this, because it's clear there is no other reason that could bring her in here.  
As ordered, she drinks the juice they give her and eats the bread, and then walks back out, her steps measured and slow. 

She always chooses the purple bandage because she knows it would have made him smile.


End file.
